Kit Carson and the Indians

Often portrayed by past historians as the greatest guide and Indian fighter in the West, Kit Carson has become in recent years a historical pariah -- a brutal murderer who betrayed the Navajos, an unwitting dupe of American expansion, and a racist. Many historians now question both his reputation and his place in the pantheon of American heroes. In Kit Carson and the Indians, Tom Dunlay urges us to reconsider Carson yet again. To Dunlay, Carson was simply a man of the nineteenth century, whose racial views and actions were much like those of his contemporaries.

Dunlay argues convincingly that historians have too often set their minds on elevating or suborning Carson's reputation and have paid too little attention to the man himself. Dunlay finds that Carson was capable of complex and seemingly contradictory feelings toward the various Indian groups he encountered. He was involved with Indians in many different kinds of relationships, from marriage to war. He led American troops against the Navajos and helped force them from their homeland despite the fact that many Navajos considered Carson an ally. He also tried to preserve Indians from extermination. It is at this juncture of historical experience and contradiction that Dunlay makes his analysis, presenting for the first time a fair and balanced treatment of Carson and his complicated relationship with the Indians.